U.S. patent application number 14/355273 was filed with the patent office on 2016-02-04 for array substrate and transflective liquid crystal display panel.
This patent application is currently assigned to BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO., LTD.. The applicant listed for this patent is BEIJING BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD., BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO., LTD.. Invention is credited to Xu CHEN, Jing LI, Zhenyu XIE, Da XU.
Application Number | 20160033819 14/355273 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 49134483 |
Filed Date | 2016-02-04 |
United States Patent
Application |
20160033819 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
LI; Jing ; et al. |
February 4, 2016 |
ARRAY SUBSTRATE AND TRANSFLECTIVE LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY PANEL
Abstract
An array substrate and a transflective liquid crystal display
panel. The array substrate includes: a plurality of sub-pixel areas
defined by gate lines and data lines distributed across each other,
each of the sub-pixel areas comprising a transmission area and a
reflection area, wherein, the array substrate further comprises an
adjustment module; the adjustment module is configured to transmit
an adjustment signal to the reflection area and adjust the
reflection area from opaque state to transparent state upon an
external light intensity being smaller than a preset light
intensity.
Inventors: |
LI; Jing; (Beijing, CN)
; XIE; Zhenyu; (Beijing, CN) ; CHEN; Xu;
(Beijing, CN) ; XU; Da; (Beijing, CN) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO., LTD.
BEIJING BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD. |
Beijing
Beijing |
|
CN
CN |
|
|
Assignee: |
BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO.,
LTD.
Beijing
CN
BEIJING BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
Beijing
CN
|
Family ID: |
49134483 |
Appl. No.: |
14/355273 |
Filed: |
December 3, 2013 |
PCT Filed: |
December 3, 2013 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/CN2013/088410 |
371 Date: |
April 30, 2014 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
349/46 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G02F 1/1362 20130101;
G02F 1/1368 20130101; G02F 1/136286 20130101; G02F 1/1334 20130101;
G02F 1/133553 20130101; G02F 1/13439 20130101; G02F 1/133555
20130101 |
International
Class: |
G02F 1/1335 20060101
G02F001/1335; G02F 1/1343 20060101 G02F001/1343; G02F 1/1334
20060101 G02F001/1334; G02F 1/1368 20060101 G02F001/1368; G02F
1/1362 20060101 G02F001/1362 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jun 13, 2013 |
CN |
201310233614.X |
Claims
1. An array substrate comprising a plurality of sub-pixel areas
defined by gate lines and data lines distributed across each other,
each of the sub-pixel areas comprising a transmission area and a
reflection area, wherein, the array substrate further comprises an
adjustment module; the adjustment module is configured to transmit
an adjustment signal to the reflection area and adjust the
reflection area from opaque state to transparent state upon an
external light intensity being smaller than a preset light
intensity.
2. The array substrate of claim 1, wherein the reflection area
comprises a polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer.
3. The array substrate of claim 2, wherein the reflection area
further comprises a transparent enhanced reflection layer on the
polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer and the enhanced reflection
layer has a relative refraction index greater than that of the
polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer.
4. The array substrate of claim 3, wherein the enhanced reflection
layer has a plurality of protrusions on its surface.
5. The array substrate of claim 4, wherein the protrusion has a
section of trapezoid.
6. The array substrate of claim 2, further comprising: a first
signal line, a second signal line and a switching transistor, the
first signal line connecting the adjustment module and a gate
electrode of the switching transistor, the second signal line
connecting the adjustment module and a source electrode of the
switching transistor, and a drain electrode of the switching
transistor being connected with the polymer dispersed liquid
crystal layer.
7. The array substrate of claim 6, wherein the gate electrode, the
gate insulating layer and the drain electrode of the switching
transistor are transparent.
8. The array substrate of claim 7, wherein a transparent insulating
layer is covered on a surface of the switching transistor and the
polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer.
9. The array substrate of claim 2, wherein the adjustment module
comprises a photoelectric sensing device configured to sense
external light intensity to determine whether to transmit the
adjustment signal.
10. The array substrate of claim 6, wherein the adjustment module
is configured to be able to transmit a first adjustment signal
through the first signal line to control turning on/off of the
switching transistor and transmit a second adjustment signal
through the second signal line to control
transparent/non-transparent state of the polymer dispersed liquid
crystal layer.
11. The array substrate of claim 2, wherein the reflection area and
the transmission area both comprise transparent pixel
electrodes.
12. The array substrate of claim 11, wherein the reflection area
and the transmission area further comprise transparent common
electrodes.
13. The array substrate of claim 11, wherein each sub-pixel area
further comprises a sub-pixel thin film transistor connected with
the pixel electrode.
14. A transflective liquid crystal display panel comprising the
array substrate according to claim 1.
15. The array substrate of claim 3, further comprising: a first
signal line, a second signal line and a switching transistor, the
first signal line connecting the adjustment module and a gate
electrode of the switching transistor, the second signal line
connecting the adjustment module and a source electrode of the
switching transistor, and a drain electrode of the switching
transistor being connected with the polymer dispersed liquid
crystal layer.
16. The array substrate of claim 4, further comprising: a first
signal line, a second signal line and a switching transistor, the
first signal line connecting the adjustment module and a gate
electrode of the switching transistor, the second signal line
connecting the adjustment module and a source electrode of the
switching transistor, and a drain electrode of the switching
transistor being connected with the polymer dispersed liquid
crystal layer.
17. The array substrate of claim 5, further comprising: a first
signal line, a second signal line and a switching transistor, the
first signal line connecting the adjustment module and a gate
electrode of the switching transistor, the second signal line
connecting the adjustment module and a source electrode of the
switching transistor, and a drain electrode of the switching
transistor being connected with the polymer dispersed liquid
crystal layer.
18. The array substrate of claim 3, wherein the adjustment module
comprises a photoelectric sensing device configured to sense
external light intensity to determine whether to transmit the
adjustment signal.
19. The array substrate of claim 4, wherein the adjustment module
comprises a photoelectric sensing device configured to sense
external light intensity to determine whether to transmit: the
adjustment signal.
20. The array substrate of claim 5, wherein the adjustment module
comprises a photoelectric sensing device configured to sense
external light intensity to determine whether to transmit the
adjustment signal.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] Embodiments of the present invention relate to an array
substrate and a transflective liquid crystal display panel.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Transflective liquid crystal display panels have advantages
such as low power consumption and strong adaptability to ambient
light, are a common panel display technology at present and broadly
applied in mobile display devices such as cell-phones and personal
digital assistants (PDA). A transflective liquid crystal display
panel may display images in a transmission mode and a reflection
mode alone or in combination, therefore may be applied in any
ambient light. In a basic structure for a transflective liquid
crystal display panel, each of the red, green and blue sub-pixel
units is divided into a transmission area and a reflection area
such that liquid crystal in the transmission area works in a
transmission mode and liquid crystal in the reflection area works
in a reflection mode. Its operating principle is as follows: when
the circumstance is dark, light transmits the transmission area and
the device works in the transmission mode, while in a bright
circumstance, external light intensity is larger than that of the
backlight source, the transflective liquid crystal display panel
works in the reflection mode to display images by reflecting light
from outside.
[0003] The inventor found in the process of making the present
invention that, the reflection areas typically reflect external
light by disposing an opaque metal layer, in case of dark
circumstance, the metal layer in reflection areas would influence
the opening ratio of the transflective liquid crystal display panel
and hence reduce its brightness.
SUMMARY
[0004] One of the technical problems to be addressed by the present
invention is to provide an array substrate and a transflective
liquid crystal display panel that can increase opening ratio of the
transflective liquid crystal display panel using the array
substrate.
[0005] According to one embodiment of the present invention, an
array substrate is provided including a plurality of sub-pixel
areas defined by gate lines and data lines distributed across each
other, each of the sub-pixel areas comprising a transmission area
and a reflection area, wherein,
[0006] the array substrate further comprises an adjustment
module;
[0007] the adjustment module is configured to transmit an
adjustment signal to the reflection area and adjust the reflection
area from opaque state to transparent state upon an external light
intensity being smaller than a preset light intensity.
[0008] In one example, the reflection area comprises a polymer
dispersed liquid crystal layer.
[0009] In one example, the reflection area further comprises a
transparent enhanced reflection layer on the polymer dispersed
liquid crystal layer and the enhanced reflection layer has a
relative refraction index greater than that of the polymer
dispersed liquid crystal layer.
[0010] In one example, the enhanced reflection layer has a
plurality of protrusions on its surface.
[0011] In one example, the protrusion has a section of
trapezoid.
[0012] In one example, the array substrate further includes:
[0013] a first signal line, a second signal line and a switching
transistor, the first signal line connecting the adjustment module
and a gate electrode of the switching transistor, the second signal
line connecting the adjustment module and a source electrode of the
switching transistor, and a drain electrode of the switching
transistor being connected with the polymer dispersed liquid
crystal layer.
[0014] In one example, the gate electrode, the gate insulating
layer and the drain electrode of the switching transistor are
transparent.
[0015] In one example, a transparent insulating layer is covered on
a surface of the switching transistor and the polymer dispersed
liquid crystal layer.
[0016] In one example, the adjustment module comprises a
photoelectric sensing device configured to sense external light
intensity to determine whether to transmit the adjustment
signal.
[0017] In one example, the adjustment module is configured to be
able to transmit the first adjustment signal through the first
signal line to control turning on/off of the switching transistor
and transmit the second adjustment signal through the second signal
line to control transparent/non-transparent state of the polymer
dispersed liquid crystal layer.
[0018] In one example, the reflection area and the transmission
area both comprise transparent pixel electrodes.
[0019] In one example, the reflection area and the transmission
area further comprise transparent common electrodes.
[0020] In one example, each sub-pixel area further comprises a
sub-pixel thin film transistor connected with the pixel
electrode.
[0021] According to another embodiment of the present invention,
there is provided a transflective liquid crystal display panel
including the above-mentioned array substrate.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0022] In order to clearly illustrate the technical solution of the
embodiments of the invention, the drawings of the embodiments will
be briefly described in the following; it is obvious that the
described drawings are only related to some embodiments of the
invention and thus are not limitative of the invention.
[0023] FIG. 1 is a structure diagram I of an array substrate in an
embodiment of the present invention;
[0024] FIG. 2 is a structure diagram of a reflection area in an
embodiment of the present invention;
[0025] FIG. 3 is a structure diagram II of an array substrate in an
embodiment of the present invention;
[0026] FIG. 4 is a structure diagram of a switching transistor in
an embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0027] In order to make objects, technical details and advantages
of the embodiments of the invention apparent, the technical
solutions of the embodiments will be described in a clearly and
fully understandable way in connection with the drawings related to
the embodiments of the invention. Apparently, the described
embodiments are just a part but not all of the embodiments of the
invention. Based on the described embodiments herein, those skilled
in the art can obtain other embodiment(s), without any inventive
work, which should be within the scope of the invention.
[0028] An embodiment of the present invention provides an array
substrate as illustrated in FIG. 1, including a plurality of
sub-pixel areas defined by gate lines 1 and data lines 2
distributed across each other. Each of the sub-pixel areas includes
a transmission area 3 and a reflection area 4. The array substrate
further includes an adjustment module.
[0029] Upon the external light intensity being smaller than a
preset light intensity, the adjustment module transmits an
adjustment signal and adjusts the reflection area 4 from opaque
state to transparent state.
[0030] Upon the external light intensity being greater than or
equal to the preset light intensity, which means the transflective
liquid crystal display panel is now in a bright circumstance, the
reflection area 4 is in opaque state, the opaque reflection area 4
reflects light from outside and utilizes the reflected external
light for display. Upon the external light intensity being smaller
than the preset light intensity, which means the external
circumstance is now dark, the adjustment module transmits an
adjustment signal and adjusts the reflection area 4 into
transparent state, allowing light from the backlight source to
transmit the transparent reflection area 4, therefore the entire
sub-pixel area can display, hence increasing opening ratio of the
transflective liquid crystal display panel.
[0031] The reflection areas 4 in the array substrate provided in
embodiments of the present invention includes a polymer dispersed
liquid crystal layer 41. By the polymer dispersed liquid crystal,
it means mixing low molecular liquid crystal with prepolymer and
forming micron-sized liquid crystal droplets by polymerization
reaction under certain conditions, and dispensing the droplets
uniformly in a high molecular mesh, then obtaining a material with
electro-light response characteristic by means of dielectric
anisotropy of the liquid crystal molecules, which mainly works
between a scattering state and a transparent state and has a
certain gray scale.
[0032] Without an applied electrical signal, no regular electric
field can be formed between the polymer dispersed liquid crystal
layers 41 and optical axes of liquid crystal particles are oriented
randomly in a disordered state. The polymer dispersed liquid
crystal layers 41 appear opaque or translucent.
[0033] Upon an electrical signal being applied, optical axes of
liquid crystal particles are aligned perpendicular to surfaces of
the polymer dispersed liquid crystal layers, incident light is not
scattered, and the thin film appears transparent.
[0034] Therefore, the polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer 41 can
switch between opaque state and transparent state while being
driven by the electrical signal. Thus the reflection areas 4 in
embodiments of the present invention may adopt the polymer
dispersed liquid crystal layer 41.
[0035] It follows that in case the polymer dispersed liquid crystal
layer 41 does not receive an adjustment signal, it may exhibit an
opaque state, and may also exhibit a translucent state, therefore,
relying only on the polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer, the
reflection efficiency of reflection areas 4 may be not ideal. In
order to increase reflection efficiency of reflection areas 4,
preferably, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the reflection area 4 further
includes an transparent enhanced reflection layer 42 located on the
polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer 41, which has a plurality of
protrusions 421 on its surface and has a relative refraction index
greater than that of the polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer
41.
[0036] The polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer 41 has a relative
refraction index of about 1.4 to 1.6 upon no adjustment signal
being received. In order to enable total reflection of light in the
enhanced reflection layer 42 on the surface of the polymer
dispersed liquid crystal layer 41, the relative refraction index of
the enhanced reflection layer 42 should be greater than 1.6. In
embodiments of the present invention, the enhanced reflection layer
42 is preferably made of transparent materials such as silicon
nitride. It is possible to adjust the relative refraction index of
enhanced reflection layer 42 by adjusting ratio of nitrogen to
silicon in the enhanced reflection layer 42. In general, the
relative refraction index of the enhanced reflection layer 22 is
controlled at about 2.0, which is enough to satisfy requirements of
embodiments of the present invention.
[0037] It follows that the polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer
(or combination of the polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer and
the enhanced reflection layer) according to embodiments of the
present invention may be regarded as an adjustable reflection
structure of the reflection areas. While the adjustable reflection
structure may be controlled by the adjustment module as in a
reflection state (corresponding to the polymer dispersed liquid
crystal layer in opaque state or translucent state) or a
transparent state. Therefore, pixel electrodes of reflection areas
on the array substrate according to embodiments of the present
invention are also transparent and can allow the reflection areas
to transmit light when the above-mentioned adjustable reflection
structure is in a transmission state.
[0038] In embodiments of the present invention, the adjustment
signal generally has a value of 5 V to 20 V. And the adjustment
signal sometimes can have a voltage value of over 20 V or below 5 V
depending on variation of high molecular material in the polymer
dispersed liquid crystal layer and different mass ratio of high
molecule to liquid crystal.
[0039] In order to increase the ratio of light in the enhanced
reflection layer 42 that is totally reflected on the surface of the
polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer 41, the surface of the
enhanced reflection layer 42 may not be flat but a structure having
a plurality of protrusions 421. The section of a protrusion 421 may
be regular polygon, hemicycle, irregular shapes etc., preferably
trapezoid.
[0040] Further, in order to transfer signals between the adjustment
module and the polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer 41 in the
reflection areas, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the array substrate
further includes:
[0041] A first signal line 5, a second signal line 6 and a
switching transistor 7, the first signal line 5 connecting the
adjustment module and a gate electrode of the switching transistor
7, the second signal line 6 connecting the adjustment module and a
source electrode of the switching transistor 7, and a drain
electrode of the switching transistor 7 being connected with the
polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer 41.
[0042] It follows that in embodiments of the present invention, the
adjustment signal from the adjustment module flows into the gate
electrode of the switching transistor 7 via the first signal line 5
to turn on the switching transistor 7; at the same time, the
adjustment signal in the second signal line 6 passes through the
source electrode 74 and the drain electrode 75 of the switching
transistor 7 and finally acts on the polymer dispersed liquid
crystal layer 41 to adjust the polymer dispersed liquid crystal
layer 41 from opaque or translucent state into transparent
state.
[0043] For example, the adjustment module is configured to be able
to transmit the first adjustment signal through the first signal
line to control turning on/off of the switching transistor and
transmit the second adjustment signal through the second signal
line to control transparent/non-transparent state of the polymer
dispersed liquid crystal layer.
[0044] In order to ensure opening ratio of sub-pixel areas,
preferably, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the gate electrode 71, the
gate insulating layer 72 and the drain electrode 75 of the
switching transistor 7 are transparent. For example, the gate
electrode 71 and the drain electrode 75 are preferably made of
transparent conducting material such as transparent indium tin
oxide and indium zinc oxide; material for the gate insulating layer
72 is preferably silicon oxide or insulating material such as
silicon nitride and hafnium oxide or multi-layer combination of
multiple insulating materials.
[0045] The switching transistors 7 may be fabricated at the same
time as sub-pixel thin film transistors on the array substrate with
the fabrication process roughly as follows:
[0046] Gate electrodes of sub-pixel thin film transistors 9 and
gate electrodes 71 of switching transistors 7 are formed on the
substrate 8. The gate electrodes of the sub-pixel thin film
transistors 9 are preferably made of aluminum, or metals such as
molybdenum, tungsten, titanium, copper or alloy of the above, or
multi-layer structure combination of the above metals, with a
thickness of 100 nm to 500 nm. The gate electrodes 71 of the
switching transistors are preferably made of transparent conducting
materials such as transparent indium tin oxide and indium zinc
oxide with a thickness of 50 nm to 500 nm. Preferably, the gate
electrodes of sub-pixel thin film transistors 9 and the gate
electrodes 71 of switching transistors 7 are consistent in
thickness.
[0047] Thereafter, it is possible to successively form the gate
insulating layer 72 and the active layer 73 of the sub-pixel thin
film transistors and switching transistors 7. It is possible to use
plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition method (PECVD) to deposit
the gate insulating layer 72 and the active layer 73 and complete
fabrication of them by one mask etching process. Generally, the
gate insulating layer 72 is preferably made of transparent
insulating material such as silicon oxide, silicon nitride and
hafnium oxide, or made of a multi-layer structure formed of various
transparent insulating materials, with a thickness of 250 nm to 600
nm. The active layer is preferably made of amorphous silicon, or
semiconductor materials such as polysilicon, indium gallium zinc
oxide, with a thickness of 100 nm to 300 nm.
[0048] Next, the source electrodes 74 and drain electrodes 75 of
the sub-pixel thin film transistors 9 and switching transistors 7
are formed. Source electrodes and drain electrodes of sub-pixel
thin film transistors 9 and source electrodes 74 of switching
transistors 7 are formed by a same layer of metal deposition and
may be made of metals such as aluminum, molybdenum, tungsten,
titanium and copper or alloy or multi-layered structure of the
above metals. Drain electrodes of the switching transistors 7 are
preferably made of various transparent conducting materials such as
transparent indium tin oxide and indium zinc oxide with a thickness
of 50 nm to 500 nm.
[0049] The fabrication process for switching transistors 7 is
completed so far. In order to save manufacturing costs, realize a
more compact structure of reflection areas 4 and connect drain
electrodes 75 of switching transistors 7 with the polymer dispersed
liquid crystal layer 41, it is possible to deposit parts of the
polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer 41 and the enhanced
reflection layer 42 on the drain electrodes directly, as
illustrated in FIG. 4. The polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer
41 has a thickness of 300-1000 nm. The enhanced reflection layer 42
is made of transparent insulating material such as silicon oxide,
silicon nitride and hafnium oxide, or a multi-layered structure
formed of various transparent insulating materials, with a
thickness of 50 nm to 300 nm. Its surface has a plurality of
protrusions 421 to increase probability of total reflection of
light on the surface of the polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer
41.
[0050] Thereafter, a channel protecting layer 10 may be deposited
on the source electrodes 74 of switching transistors 7 and the
active layer 73 exposed between the source electrodes 74 and the
drain electrodes 75. Finally, an insulating layer 11 is deposited
on the surface of the enhanced reflection layer 42 on the switching
transistors 7 and the polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer 41 and
on the surface of sub-pixel thin film transistors. The insulating
layer 11 is made of transparent insulating material such as silicon
oxide, silicon nitride and resin, or a multi-layered structure
formed of various transparent insulating materials, with a
thickness of 800 nm to 2000 nm. The deposition of insulating layer
11 prevents height difference between switching transistors 7 and
other parts, which is in favor of subsequent fabrication and
treatment of the array substrate.
[0051] For example, the insulating layer 11 is at least disposed in
the reflection areas 4 and the transmission areas 3 to cancel
height difference caused by switching transistors 7 in the pixel
areas. For example, each sub-pixel area further includes a pixel
electrode disposed on the insulating layer 11 in the reflection
area 4 and the transmission area 3. For example, each sub-pixel
area may further include a common electrode disposed over the pixel
electrode via a passivation layer. The pixel electrode and the
common electrode are both made of transparent conducting material.
For example, the pixel electrode may be connected with the drain
electrode of the sub-pixel thin film transistor. However, the array
substrate according to embodiments of the present invention is not
limited to the above-mentioned structure. For example, in case that
the gate electrodes 71, gate insulating layer 72 and drain
electrodes 75 of switching transistors 7 are all transparent, the
pixel electrodes according to the present invention may also be
disposed below the polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer and the
switching transistor 7.
[0052] For example, as illustrated in FIG. 3, it can be seen in the
plan view that the reflection areas 4 are disposed at lower
positions of the sub-pixel areas. However, embodiments according to
the present invention are not limited thereto, reflection areas may
be disposed at the middle, the upper or any other suitable
positions in the sub-pixel area.
[0053] As can be known from the above description, as illustrated
in FIG. 3, the first signal line 5 is connected with the gate
electrode 71 of the switching transistor 7 and functions similarly
to the gate line in prior art, therefore it is possible to arrange
it parallel to the gate lines on the array substrate and make it
with transparent material to prevent the first signal line 5 from
influencing opening ratio of the sub-pixel areas. For example,
parts of the first signal line 5 for transferring the adjustment
signal may be made of transparent conducting material such as
transparent indium tin oxide and indium zinc oxide, and insulating
parts in the first signal line 5 may be made of insulating material
such as transparent silicon oxide, silicon nitride and hafnium
oxide or multi-layer combination of the above various insulating
materials.
[0054] Similarly, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the second signal line
6 is connected with the source electrode of the switching
transistor 7 and functions similarly to data lines in prior art,
therefore they can be arranged parallel to data lines on the array
substrate.
[0055] In practice, when the switching transistor 7 has a
sufficiently large capacitance, the role of the second signal line
6 may be taken on by the data line 2 to adjust the polymer
dispersed liquid crystal layer 41 between frame switching or in
case of black screen. Then rotation of liquid crystal of the
polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer 41 is maintained by quantity
of electric charges stored in the capacitor of the switching
transistor 7 to allow reflection areas 4 of the sub-pixel areas to
normally display under dark circumstance.
[0056] In the technical solution of an embodiment of the present
invention, the adjustment module transmitting adjustment signal may
be implemented by user's manual operation. Now the adjustment
module is preferably a common level output circuit and the
transflective liquid crystal display panel is provided with a
switch key connected with the adjustment module. When the user
feels that the external light intensity is weak, the switch key may
be pressed by oneself to turn on the adjustment module that can
transmit an adjustment signal with a certain level.
[0057] In addition to manual control for the adjustment module to
transmit adjustment signal, the adjustment signal may also be
transmitted by the adjustment module automatically. When the
adjustment module has the function of automatically transmitting
adjustment signal, preferably, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the
adjustment module includes a photoelectric sensing device. When the
photoelectric sensing device senses that light intensity from
outside is greater than a preset light intensity, the adjustment
module is activated to transmit adjustment signal automatically.
For example, the photoelectric sensing device is configured to
sense external light intensity to decide whether to transmit the
adjustment signal.
[0058] The array substrate in embodiments of the present invention
is applicable to driving modes such as the advanced super dimension
switch (ADS) and twisted nematic (TN) mode and the like.
[0059] In the technical solution of the present embodiment, an
array substrate is provided in which when external light intensity
is smaller than a preset light intensity, the adjustment module
transmits an adjustment signal and adjust the reflection areas from
non-transparent state to transparent state. Then the entire
sub-pixel area may be used for display, which increases opening
ratio of the transflective liquid crystal display panel utilizing
the array substrate.
[0060] The above description focused on the adjustable reflection
structure of reflection areas of the array substrate. However, the
array substrate according to embodiments of the present invention
may further include any other appropriate components required by a
transflective array substrate. For example, the reflection areas
and the transmission areas may include pixel electrodes, and may
further include common electrodes. It is to be noted that since in
embodiments of the present invention there is already an adjustable
reflection structure and the reflection areas may transmit light
when the adjustable reflection structure is in transparent state,
the pixel electrodes and common electrodes herein both need to be
transparent. For example, in each sub-pixel area, a sub-pixel thin
film transistor may be further included to be connected with the
pixel electrode to function as a switch of the sub-pixel.
[0061] Further, an embodiment of the present invention further
provides a transflective liquid crystal display panel including the
above-mentioned array substrate. The transflective liquid crystal
display panel may be any product or component with display
function, such as a liquid crystal panel, a cell-phone, a flat
computer, a TV set, a display, a notebook computer, a digital
picture frame or a navigator.
[0062] What are described above is related to the illustrative
embodiments of the disclosure only and not limitative to the scope
of the disclosure; the scopes of the disclosure are defined by the
accompanying claims.
* * * * *